The last mission
by Genki-Saru
Summary: Yusuke has finally returned into the human world from his adventuring in the Makai, but another mission awaits him. Now the gang has a bigger fish to fry and another member!
1. What’s wrong with this picture?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.! All of the character, except for Mari, belong to someone else, that sadly isn't me. ^__^ Warning: The boys mouths are very fowl. So the rating is R for that.  
  
Chapter One: What's wrong with this picture?  
  
"What the hell is the meaning of this!?!" Hiei slammed a slip of paper under Koenma's nose.  
  
Koenma, not fazed, with Hiei's words continued to stamp approvals on the never ending stack of papers. "So? What's wrong with it?" he asked.  
  
"You're trying to make me go on another mission with the kitsune and the foolish humans! I thought that you said I had already done enough crap for the Spirit world for three life times. And now you're sending us on another mission!?!"  
  
"Yes, you are going to go on another mission with your teammates. The human world and the Spirit world are counting on you. My five trustworthy fighters are going to save the world once again and I expect nothing less of A and S level youkai" Koenma said, not stopping his stamping to even look at the angry fire demon.  
  
"WHAT!! The world can take care of itself! You don't need me to do this. Just send Yusuke to die, for all I care! Hey, you said five.? Kurama, Yusuke, the stupid red-headed human and me. Is Genkai going to came too? The old hag is nearly worthless!"  
  
"No, Genkai isn't gonna come. You will have a new member of you're team and well Botan is going too."  
  
"A new team member? What is that supposed to mean? Not another human I hope".  
  
"So you're gonna go on the mission without grumbling, right? The new team member is a demon. A fire demon to be exact" Koenma said now passing a stack of paper to one of his ogres.  
  
"A fire demon? Where did you fish one of them up?" Hiei asked thinking about the few fire demons that he knew, mostly the ones that he had killed.  
  
"Yes, a fire demon. Now will you leave and let me do my work?" Koenma said ignoring Hiei's question.  
  
"Mrrr!" Hiei growled and left the King of Hell Jr. office in a larger fit of rage then when he got in.  
  
*******  
  
The darkness of the forest started to unnerve Yusuke, even if he happened to sense nothing at the moment. It had been a year since he had last visited the Makai. After the death of his father Raizen he had battled in the tournament to be the next big youkai leader and lost, he had decided to get to learn the ways of the Makai better. After spending three years there he came back to the human world and expected to never return into the Makai again. But here he was in the middle of nothing waiting. and waiting. and waiting. "GOD DAMMIT!! WHERE ARE THEY"  
  
Yusuke kicked a random branch muttering under his breath. "Where could they be? Where could they be...? I'm the one that is never on time.".  
  
Finally, he felt someone coming. And not ling after that he felt the presence of Kurama coming closer. The wind played with his long red hair before it settled down his back in its natural state.  
  
"Where have you been?" Yusuke snarled at the kitsune.  
  
"What? Might I say that if you think about the time here and the time in the human world or so that you understand I am early to be exact" Kurama answered in his polite manner while Yusuke continued to fume.  
  
"WHAT!!! The note from Koenma said at dawn the next day!!" Yusuke said. Being confused seemed to be his second nature.  
  
"Yes. And now it is about four in the Makai. The sun should be up soon. In about an hour or so" Kurama said looking at his watch.  
  
"You mean I came here too early??" Yusuke asked devastated by the thought.  
  
"That's what I'm trying to say, yes", Kurama answered.  
  
Yusuke sighed and sat down on the ground folding his arms and looking very tired of his life.  
  
"Well since you're here now I can take a nap" Yusuke said closing his eyes and leaning back against a trunk of tree.  
  
Kurama shook his head and leaned on the tree waiting for the others to arrive.  
  
The two of them waited in the semi-darkness and waited. At six o'clock they felt the presence of Hiei approaching at his normal pace which meant that they sensed him about the same time that he appeared in front of them.  
  
Without a word he jumped into the tree and sat there and waited with the others.  
  
Finally when the sun was rising the fourth fighter appeared. His red hair gleamed when he came running with three youkai after him.  
  
"Help me you guys! They just appeared in front of me when I used the transporting portal that Koenma gave me!" Kuwabara yelled while running for his life.  
  
"And they say we need him?" Hiei said and jumped out of his tree to slice the pathetic C level demons that where after the stupid red-head.  
  
"Thanks Hiei" Kuwabara said while trying to catch his breath. "Of course I could have taken them on, but they just startled me, that's all".  
  
Hiei sighed and jumped back in his tree" I should have let him get killed" he muttered while closing his eyes. They still had someone to wait for.  
  
"Come down Hiei! We have to go!" Yusuke yelled up to Hiei.  
  
"The fifth fighter and Botan aren't here yet", Hiei said without  
opening his eyes.  
  
"What do you mean by a fifth fighter? Koenma didn't say anything bout a fifth fighter, did he?" Yusuke asked turning to Kurama. Kurama just shrugged and looked up at Hiei.  
  
"What did he say when you went and asked him about the mission?" Kurama asked Hiei in turn.  
  
"He said that we will have a fifth fighter", Hiei answered.  
  
"Is he strong?" Yusuke asked thinking of the upcoming fight.  
  
"How should I know? He or she is supposedly an A or S level youkai. So they must be pretty strong or a human which I doubt", Hiei answered.  
  
".by the way. What are we doing here anyways? What is the mission?" Kuwabara asked.  
  
Hiei fell from his tree and the others sweatdropped .  
  
"Did you read the letter Koenma sent you?" Kurama asked in return.  
  
"Uuhh. He sent us a letter? I thought it was just the note", Kuwabara said.  
  
"We are here to keep the world in a balance. There is another group of demons that have organized themselves and try to escape into the human world. They have just started to sent lower level youkai into the world which the lesser officers of the Spirit world have taken care of, but the main people behind the operation are here in the Makai and Koenma has sent us hear to investigate in our duties to the Spirit and Human worlds" Kurama said trying to make the concepts easy enough for the human to understand.  
  
"Yes that is what Koenma told me too, but we just have another party member. I suppose that Botan is bringing the fire demon here. I wonder why they chose to add a new member to the party now. I thought we were doing okay without the help of others", Yusuke mused while taking a stick, that he had picked off the ground next him, apart.  
  
"Yes, I got to agree with you on that one", Hiei said from his tree.  
  
"I sense Botan coming!" Kurama said standing up.  
  
The others sensed the powerful presence that was coming towards then. Botan's presence was just a drop in the sea compared to the presence of the youkai that was coming closer. Hiei jumped from his tree to stand next to Kurama and Yusuke and Kuwabara walked to stand next to him on either side of the two youkai.  
  
*******  
  
Botan with her long blue hair in a pony tail, bouncing up and down, walked toward the group oblivious of the glares they sent towards the human that was walking besides her.  
  
The human walked sulkily next to Botan. Her long red hair was in a braid down her back and her bangs looked like they hadn't been combed in a while and her clothes looked like she had just come from a fight.  
  
The guys stared and her. Could this small human be the source of all that demon energy they had just felt? Yes the feeling had passed and they could sense no spirit or demon energy from this kid.  
  
"What! Is this kid the fifth fighter?" Yusuke asked ruffling the hair of the short, little girl getting a glare from her, but she didn't pull away.  
  
"Yes isn't she cute! It reminds me of the time when you and Keiko where in Jr. high school and I got to where that cute school uniform!" Botan said smiling.  
  
"Hey that was over four years ago! How old are you anyways kid?" Yusuke asked smiling down at the kid.  
  
"I'm seventeen", came the cool answer. The girl kept her gaze on the ground as she tried to keep her hands on off this insolent pup that called her a kid.  
  
"Hey she's the same age as we are!" Kuwabara said looking dumb folded.  
  
"What's your name?" Kurama asked looking at the red headed girl.  
  
"Mari", came the answer.  
  
"Mari, huh? Well, that's a nice name. How are you today Mari?" Kurama asked trying to get the girl to warm up a little.  
  
"Couldn't be better", she answered looking up the first time. Her eyes flashed on odd color when her eyes met Kurama's, but it was gone so soon that Kurama thought that it must have been his imagination.  
  
"So now we have a new kid on our team" Yusuke said getting another glare from Mari. "I mean that it's nice to get someone else on this team. The block head isn't very good company, cause you can't talked to him unless you repeat you're self at least five times!" Yusuke said while dogging Kuwabara's death blow.  
  
Kurama could have sworn that she smirked at the two adolescents fighting before she lowered her head again.  
  
"Oh! I forgot to introduce everyone!" Botan said slamming her hands together. "This is Hiei," she pointed at the fire demon that hadn't bothered to move during the whole act, "this is Kurama," Botan pointed at Kurama and the red-head bowed at Mari telling her it was a pleasure to meet her, "this is Yusuke Yurameshi," she said pointing at Yusuke who now was trying to get a good grip of Kuwabara's head in his hands, "and this is Kazuma Kuwabara", she pointed at Kuwabara half-dead on the ground.  
  
"Okay guys it's time to act!" Botan said and put her hand in front her. "Lets go!"  
  
"Yes", Kurama said and placed his hand on top of hers.  
  
"Let's do this!" Yusuke said placing his hand on the pile.  
  
"All for the sake of love!" Kuwabara said, placing his hand on top of Yusuke's.  
  
"Humph" Hiei sighed and placed his hand on top.  
  
All eyes where on Mari as she placed her hand on top of Hiei's.  
  
"Okay! Let's go!" Botan said throwing her hand in the air.  
  
Please R&R. It's my first fanfiction so don't be too harsh. 


	2. The start of the Journey

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.! All of the character, except for Mari, belong to someone else, that sadly isn't me. ^__^ By the way this story takes place after the series has ended so it may contain spoilers. Warning: The boy's mouths are very fowl. So the rating is R for that.  
  
Chapter Two: The start of the Journey  
  
"Why did I come on this trip? All we have done so far is walk, walk and walk!" Yusuke said on the evening of the first day's walking.  
  
"Koenma said that we should start ascending towards the youkai hideout carefully. We have no idea what's going on in there. None of Lord Koenma's spy gear can get through the disturbances in that place and it freaks me out! I haven't heard of a place where Lord Koenma's tracking devises haven't been able to make contact", Botan said.  
  
Kurama was out picking fire wood and Hiei was out scouting. The three humans and Botan had stayed at camp waiting for the youkai to come back.  
  
Yusuke had started complaining the moment he learned that it would take some time for them to reach the demon base. Now that they had stopped to rest he had started to protest full force.  
  
"Why can't we just go to the place and blow it up?" Yusuke whined.  
  
"I already told you why!" Botan said and bashed Yusuke on the head with her paddle.  
  
"Morons", Mari said and climbed to the nearest tree, like a chipmunk.  
  
Yusuke and Botan kept on fighting with more shouting and bashings on the head. Mari stayed in her tree and, shaking her head, dozed off.  
  
*****  
  
Kurama stood listening to the distant call of a bird. He couldn't tell if it was a demon that was calling to another, but it did sound unnatural. Well all he could do was to wait for Hiei to come back. He knew that Hiei would come to him first if he just waited long enough. The little fire demon might be sulky and stubborn, but he would never go against a friend.  
  
Kurama didn't have to wait long with his fire wood. Hiei came running up to him, stopping abruptly in front of the kitsune.  
  
"Find anything?" Kurama asked looking down at the fire demon.  
  
"There's a large gathering of weak youkai about 20 miles east and there are some youkai in the mountains in the north, but that's about all the threat I could find. I could have killed them easily" he answered in his arrogant manner.  
  
"Yes. Did you hear the commotion from the camp?" Kurama asked.  
  
"Yeah. I doubt we will be left alone for more then a couple of hours before someone finds the idiots", Hiei winced hearing the racket clearly from where he stood, about two miles away.  
  
"So we will have a fight today?" Kurama mussed looking at the sun. "well, for the time that we still have left".  
  
"They will attack at night. At least we will see if the new girl is any good". Hiei smirked.  
  
"Yes we will see", Kurama said starting to walk toward camp.  
  
Hiei jumped up to the tree and raced off. He was going to enter the camp on the other side.  
  
*****  
  
Yusuke lay on his back looking at the stars. He hadn't seen them for months now. The sky in the Makai and in the Human world where totally different. The youkai didn't believe in constellations so the stars where only a way of navigation in the dark.  
  
The only sound was of the breathing of the others while he mussed about the things in his life.  
  
Kurama was sleeping next to the fire and Botan was sleeping near there too. Kuwabara slept near him and he bet that anything living could hear his snoring a mile away.  
  
Hiei and the girl Mari slept in opposite trees still near enough for quick action. How that human could stand to sleep in a tree he could not comprehend, Hiei he understood, since he had always done that, but the girl? She was made of stronger stuff then he had thought. She hadn't complained at all during the long walk and she had to take three steps for his one, with her short legs.  
  
His guard turn would soon be over and he would have to wake up Kurama. The moons hadn't moved mush from their last place he saw them, but he didn't let that fool him. The moons moved differently here.  
  
He sighed and stood up. He had been lying on a rock and now he had a sore spot there. He cracked his back and walked over to Kurama.  
  
He shook his friend once and Kurama opened his eyes and nodded. He knew it was his turn to watch over the camp.  
  
"There's going to be a fight" he mouthed to Yusuke and he nodded sensing the same thing that Kurama did.  
  
They stood up not wanting to wake Botan or the kid and they walked to the tree Hiei was in and looked up. Hiei looked down and nodded. He wasn't going to miss this fight for anything. They didn't want to risk waking Kuwabara and left him to defend the others.  
  
Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei started out silently trying to be as quiet as possible. They nodded and went in different directions wanting to surprise the attackers. Hiei ranged out farthest and would take them from their back, which was likely to be their weakest spot.  
  
Yusuke went to the right and Kurama went to the left. Not possessing the speed that Hiei mastered they jogged quietly in their directions. They would attack when the attackers would come half a mile from the camp.  
  
*****  
  
"We still have some time", Kurama thought and positioned himself in a good stalking place on top of a cliff above the place he new the youkai would come.  
  
*****  
  
Yusuke wasn't as lucky. He didn't find a good place to hide so he just jumped into a tree and waited with a growing grin on his face.  
  
*****  
  
Hiei ran jumping from tree top to tree top. Until he skidded to a stop on an overlarge branch above the last of the youkai. He had gotten a good glimpse of the youkai and knew they would have no trouble killing them, most of them where just henchmen for a B-level youkai. The only thing that struck him as odd was that there seemed to be no tougher youkai around, but he dismissed the fleeting thought as paranoia.  
  
*****  
  
It was almost time. The boys could feel the youkai coming closer to the camp. All they had to do was wait a little longer.  
  
*****  
  
Yusuke sensed the first youkai coming nearer. He could nearly feel the life force of the demon. Finally the demons started to jog towards his tree. He cracked his knuckles and let a small grin on his lips. The youkai where coming closer.  
  
He dropped from his tree right in front of the first demon. He smiled and punched the demon square in the nose. He could feel the ugly green-yellow blood start to ooze from the wound.  
  
The next demon came to him from behind. He first kicked him in the stomach and the demon winced in pain, but Yusuke didn't hesitate. He kicked at the demon aiming for his head, but missed. He flipped over and kicked the demons neck, hearing a satisfying crack when the demons neck broke.  
  
By now he was surrounded by demons. They laughed at him thinking that they had him overpowered by the shrill number of them.  
  
Yusuke just smirked and started to focus his spirit energy. He lifted his hand and.  
  
"REI GUN!" he yelled and blasted the youkai to bits.  
  
"This is the life! Punishing the ones that have done wrong!"  
  
He shouted another war cry and lunged into the sea of youkai.  
  
*****  
  
Kurama started his assent to the horde of youkai in a more business like manner. He called out his Rose Whip and killed the youkai in one smooth swipe.  
  
"Well that was easy", he said as the other group of youkai advanced on him.  
  
*****  
  
Hiei waited until the youkai started to move again and sneaked up on them. The tailing group was nothing more then a couple of cowering dogs, believing that the first part of the horde would kill the ones they where after.  
  
They never saw what came after them. Hiei sliced them neatly into pieces with his katana and advanced onto the other youkai.  
  
*****  
  
The boys met up half way. Kurama with a pleasant smile, but one that knew him better would have noticed the small lines of worry on his brow. Yusuke was covered in youkai blood and his grin was even wider now. Hiei walked up to them slowly and tilted his head as if listening to something.  
  
"Didn't it seem sort of odd that there where no strong youkai in the whole group?" Yusuke asked, scratching his head.  
  
Suddenly he felt a strange power serge. The boys looked at each other and started to run towards the camp.  
  
*****  
  
The whole camp was a mess by the time they got there. Kuwabara lay motionless on the ground. It seemed that he was knocked out while he slept.  
  
Botan didn't look any better, she laid on the ground her face to the ground and she had a huge lump forming on her head. At least she had defended her self since there were about five dead demons lying near her.  
  
The only one that seemed to still be fighting was Mari. There where demons surrounding her and she was weaponless. They smirked at her thinking her easy fry.  
  
The demons advanced in on her. Yusuke was ready to attack them here and now, but when he was about to step into the fighting zone, Kurama stopped him.  
  
"What?" Yusuke hissed annoyed.  
  
"Let us see how she does", Kurama whispered back still holding his hand in the way..  
  
Now, the demons where almost on top of Mari. She stood still until they almost touched her, then she smirked let the frightened look on her face die. From out of nowhere a scythe had materialized in her hand. She sliced the demons that where close enough and attacked the next row from there.  
  
She seemed unstoppable and soon there was only one demon to fight. He was the leader in every aspect. He was the largest and he seemed to be at least on level-B, unlike the reset of the youkai that had been lowly C or D-level demons.  
  
Mari looked at the youkai and smirked. The demon looked warily at her. He had seen all of his comrades, if you can call them that, die by her blade. There was no way that he would underestimate her.  
  
Mari attacked him wanting to end the battle as soon as possible.  
  
In the middle of her run against the demon, she suddenly seemed to feel some sort of pain. Kurama didn't know what it meant, but her face was twitched in agony.  
  
Mari gasped for air. The momentum that she had built running towards the youkai suddenly seemed too much. Her eyes where full of fear.  
  
Suddenly her scythe vanished and she looked at her empty hand, right before she crashed into the hard chest of the enemy youkai.  
  
*****  
  
Translations: Youkai: Demon Rei Gun: Spirit Gun  
  
From chapter one: Raizen is the father of Yusuke, but it isn't found out until later in the series and this takes place after the series is ended, so sorry for the mix up. ^^;;;  
  
Thank you for the review Yami-AJ Yu-Yu-InuCaptor! It makes me very happy! *tears of joy*. 


	3. The end of the fight

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.! All of the character, except for Mari, belong to someone else, that sadly isn't me. ^__^ By the way this story takes place after the series has ended so it may contain spoilers. Warning: The boy's mouths are very fowl. So the rating is R for that.  
  
Chapter 3 The End of the Fight  
  
Mari crashed against the youkai. He took hold of her shirt and flung her away from him. She flew until she crashed into the trunk of the tree that she had been sleeping in just moments ago. The youkai loomed over her and smirked. He raised his foot to kick her and she covered her head with her hands.  
  
The smirk died from his lips as Hiei's sword plunged into his heart and he collapsed into the ground in a heap.  
  
"What the hell was that all about?" Hiei snarled at Mari as he helped her to her feet.  
  
"I think a scythe is too large of a weapon for me to hold. I don't have the power now to keep it materialized long enough." she said and looked down, her bangs covering her eyes.  
  
"Interesting" Kurama thought and filled the small slip into his memory.  
  
"So you can make stuff, huh?" Yusuke asked sounding impressed.  
  
"Yeah" Mari said looking up at Yusuke.  
  
"Hey, make something!"  
  
"Okay." Mari held her hand and a flower materialized out of nowhere to float above her hand. The flower was a white lily, looking very fragile in the moons light.  
  
"Wow!" even as Yusuke breathed those words the flower started to whither and Mari plucked it out of the air. She crushed it in her hand and let it fall, before it reached the ground it had disintegrated into nothing.  
  
"I can't keep it alive for long. That's why it's easier to make solid weapons and other non-living things, then something living", she said.  
  
Botan had revived at this point. She looked around confused. As she spotted the three boys standing near Mari she bounced up and elbowed the guys away from her.  
  
"Sorry, but I need to talk to Mari for a second". Botan took hold of Mari's even more torn up sleeve and pulled her out of hearing range.  
  
Yusuke and the others just shrugged and went to wake up Kuwabara.  
  
*****  
  
"What do you think you're doing? I thought that we had gone over this!" Botan said pulling Mari into a crouch.  
  
"Well I never thought that defending myself would be considered a crime", Mari said deliberately ignoring the real meaning of Botan's words.  
  
"You know what I mean!" Botan said seething.  
  
"Yes, like I could do nothing else", Mari said and pulled her shirt collar down revealing a dog-collar seeming thing, with a bell.  
  
"Put that away right now!" Botan said suddenly terrified.  
  
"As you wish", Mari grinned toothily and pulled her shirt collar up.  
  
Botan relaxed and let go of Mari's sleeve.  
  
"You know perfectly well that Kurama could recognize you and then our cover could be blown!" Botan said.  
  
"I don't see the point of all this secrecy, or this collar. It's not like I would ask him to escape or something".  
  
Botan looked at her sideways.  
  
"You never said how well you knew him", Botan said turning around about to walk off.  
  
"We where thieves, we worked together. and you can use you're imagination from there", smirking Mari turned and started to walk toward the camp. Botan paled and tried to grab hold of Mari again. She evaded her easily and kept on walking.  
  
*****  
  
"What do you think that they are talking bout?" Yusuke asked while he kicked Kuwabara.  
  
"How should I know?" Hiei said and jumped into a tree.  
  
"I'll try to get some rest, finally" he stated and was quiet.  
  
"What do you think, Kurama?"  
  
"I don't think that it is any of our business. They can talk about what they want", Kurama said trying to get a new fire going. It would still be a couple of hours till dawn.  
  
*****  
  
Hiei took the white cloth hiding his third eye and concentrated on the two figures that where walking towards the other side of camp. He wasn't afraid that Yusuke or Kuwabara would suspect anything, Kurama would see to that.  
  
"There is something wrong with that girl.no normal girl could have used her spirit energy to conjure up something like that without braking into a sweat" he thought while listening to their conversation.  
  
"'.you wish'" he heard the girl say.  
  
"'You know perfectly well that Kurama could recognize you and then our cover could.'" the words faded out.  
  
"What?" Hiei tried to concentrate again. Nothing happened.  
  
"She couldn't be blocking my Jagan eye!" Hiei said grinding his teeth.  
  
He looked towards the two girls. Mari was looking at his tree. Their eyes met and then Mari converted her eyes on Kurama who had gotten a fire going by this time. She smiled while walking towards him, crouching next to him grinning.  
  
*****  
  
"Hey, Kurama! You think that we could get something to eat in this place? I'm starved!" Mari said.  
  
Kurama looked at her.  
  
"Why is she suddenly so friendly?" he thought.  
  
"Yes. We could get something. Botan! You have that pack of yours?" Kurama said to Botan's figure coming closer.  
  
"Right here!" Botan said grinning a very convincing grin and conjured a pack out of nowhere.  
  
"Wow! I'm starved! Give it here!" Yusuke said and he started to go through the pack getting out sandwiches and drinks all around.  
  
Hiei jumped down from his tree and even Kuwabara got up hearing that there would be food.  
  
"Yum! This is great!" Kuwabara said stuffing his face.  
  
"What do you think, Mari?" Kurama said smiling.  
  
"It's okay", she answered eating her sandwich.  
  
"How did you do that anyways?" Yusuke asked Botan.  
  
"Do what?" Botan said eating her sandwich, sulking.  
  
"Just make these pack out of nowhere?".  
  
"Spirit Detective gadget number 23, the instant lunch pack! Never leave without it!" Botan said reverting to her old-self again holding up a small round object in the air.  
  
"Okay", Yusuke sweatdropped and smiled.  
  
*****  
  
A/N: I remembered to but the a/n this time.*sweatdrop*. No one really reads this stuff but I'd just like to say that:  
  
Please read/review   
  
I almost spilled the beans in this chapter and told you peoples who Mari is. but then I didn't. Well, you can guess.^___^  
  
Go read my bio if you want to know what kind of person Sessha is *points at herself, and gets knocked out by a wall that randomly falls on her*  
  
Sessha.thinks..that...is.all.@__@  
  
Hiei:*stands with crossed arms, glares* Review!! 


End file.
